Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Ghosts season 4, episode 10, “The Not-So-Silent Partner.”
AlthoughGhostshas taken a few jabs at some of the earlier roles of its stars before, season 4, episode 10 finally addressed one of Rose McIver’s most iconic parts.Ghostsseason 4’s cast of charactersincludes a slew of familiar faces from all manner of movies and shows.Ghostsseason 4’s new character Patienceis played byHappiest Season’s breakout star Mary Holland, while Sam’s estranged father Frank is played byBreaking Bad’s Dean Norris.
Ghostshas even made a few meta-jokes about the roles that viewers might recognize its cast from. Utkarsh Ambudkar was in an early production ofHamilton, andGhosts’ ongoing running gag about Alexander Hamiltonis set to result in a role for the real-life character later in season 4. Meanwhile, the actor who played Pete inGhostsseason 2, episode 7, “Dumb Deaths,” is Matthew Baynton, one of the stars and co-creators of the original UK sitcom of the same name thatGhostsis based on.
Ghosts Season 4’s Hetty Genealogy Story Referenced A Christmas Prince
Ghosts Joked About Rose McIver’s Role In Netflix’s Romantic Comedy
Ghostsslipped another subtle nod to the screen oeuvre of one of the show’s stars into the cold open of season 4, episode 10, “The Not-So-Silent Partner.” As the ghosts and Sam watched a historical drama together, Hetty boasted that she was supposedly distantly related to the British royal family. Before Sam told her about modern DNA tests and genealogy websites, she absent mindedly noted “This is just like one of those movies where a regular girl finds out she’s a princess.”
McIver reprised her role as Queen Amber Moore for a cameo in 2020’sThe Princess Switch: Switched Again.
It would be easy for viewers to miss, but this gag doubled as a reference to one of Rose McIver’s biggest roles beforeGhosts. In 2017,McIver starred in Netflix’s Christmas movieA Christmas Prince, which was followed soon after by 2018’sA Christmas Prince: The Royal WeddingandA Christmas Prince: The Royal Babyin 2019. McIver even reprised her role as Queen Amber Moore for a cameo in 2020’sThe Princess Switch: Switched Again, thus tying together the Netflix holiday movie cinematic universe.
Ghosts Season 4 Already Referenced Another Rose McIver Role
Ghosts Season 4’s Christmas Special Mocked iZombie
When McIver’s character said she could secretly be a princess unbeknownst to herself, “The Not-So-Silent Partner” was clearly offering a sly nod to the actor’s background. However,Ghostsseason 4’s Christmas specialalready offered viewers a similarly subtle nod to McIver’s earlier roles in “A Very Arondekar Christmas Part 2.” In that outing, Jay was possessed by due thanks to an electrocution incident, and he needed to get back into his body before Christmas dinner with his family.
This proved particularly challenging and, thanks to a string of absurd hold-ups, Jay ended up briefly becoming a zombie, i.e. a body with no soul inside. Sam was horrified, exclaiming that she couldn’t deal with zombies at all. This was an ironic nod to McIver’s role in the cult classic mystery procedural/comedy-horror mashupiZombie, wherein she played a zombie who investigated murders by consuming the victim’s brains and temporarily imbibing their personality and memories. Like season 4, episode 10’s nod to her Netflix Christmas movie, thisGhostsreference was a fun Easter egg for McIver’s fans.
